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September 30, 2025
 

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Ed Sheeran's marketing team has taken over a shop in Tokyo's Ichigaya Station.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oh, Ed(o)! Where have all the vowels gone?
Japan’s playful “Magica spellings” drop vowels and swap consonants, blending Japanese and English into crafty puns.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
How Japanese captures the subtle shift into autumn
From the equinox to cooler mornings, Japanese grammar and expressions reflect how the season gradually deepens into autumn.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s announcement hits all the right notes in Japan
Japanese culture is in the depths of a nostalgia wave, and the engagement announcement for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce fits in with it nicely.
Experts say staying off your phone and sticking to a sleep schedule can help those who have trouble dozing off.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 2, 2025
Mark Japan’s Sleep Day by making some lifestyle changes
By Yuko Tamura
The Japanese are not getting enough sleep. Luckily, everyone from scientists to Shohei Ohtani are offering solutions.
A boy looks at samples of Pokemon toys available with the McDonald's Happy Meal set in Tokyo earlier this month.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 28, 2025
How to complain politely: Lessons from the McDonald’s Pokemon debacle
By Yuko Tamura
In Japan, the right phrasing can mean the difference between a request and harassment.
A lot of Japanese workers join online group texts to communicate with their coworkers, but at what point do those chats threaten a healthy work-life balance?
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 22, 2025
Expressing annoyance with work group chats in Japanese
By Yaeko Kabe
Some employees value the convenience; others feel trapped by after-hours texts and social expectations embedded in office messaging culture.
It is recommended that screen time for children should be kept to under two hours a day.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 24, 2025
Study first, screens later: Japanese kids have summer projects to do
By Yuko Tamura
From book reports to free research, parents are helping kids build good habits — and grammar — over summer break.
A man takes part in Tokyo’s Sanja Matsuri by helping to carry a "mikoshi" (portable shrine). Many Japanese festivals are open to foreign residents and tourists to participate in.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 19, 2025
Dancers, festivals and one very useful Japanese grammar point
By Yaeko Kabe
From Kyoto’s Gion Matsuri to Tokyo’s Sumida fireworks, Japan’s summer festivals offer history, spectacle — and a chance to learn some vocabulary.
Apple’s Craig Federighi shows off a set of emoji at a conference on June 13, 2016. While the small pictures have proved helpful in conveying nuance in our texts, younger people are using them less often.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 11, 2025
An emoji used to say it all. Now it might say too much.
By Yuko Tamura
With World Emoji Day approaching, it's a good opportunity to recognize how important these digital pictures have become.
People carry a portable shrine at Sensoji temple during the Sanja Festival in May. The festival is one of the three largest in Tokyo.
LIFE / Language
Jul 5, 2025
What’s the first thing you think of when you think of a Japanese summer?
By Yuko Tamura
Fireworks and festivals are part of the traditional Japanese summer, but what do people associate with the season these days?

Japanese team detects gradual seafloor caving near Nankai Trough
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at the Prime Minister's Office on Sept. 1 during an anti-disaster drill simulating an earthquake in the Nankai Trough.
Osaka Expo visitors exceed breakeven point
The Osaka Expo in Osaka on Sept. 13. The daily number of visitors to the expo has topped 200,000 since mid-September as its Oct. 13 closing approaches.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?
Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Japan private-sector pay hits record in 2024
The average salary for men was ¥5.87 million, up 3.2%, and that of women was ¥3.33 million, up 5.5%, both marking record highs.
Japan revises 30-year probability rate of Nankai Trough megaquake
A newspaper headline in Japanese about a possible Nankai Trough earthquake. In a report issued Friday, the government's Earthquake Research Committee widened the probability range for a magnitude 8 to 9 earthquake occurring off the country's Pacific coast within the next 30 years from "around 80%" to 60% to 94.5% or higher.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons
Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

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